Padaividu

Padaividu was a stronghold of the Sambuvaraya chiefs in northern Tamil country. Their fortified settlement stood beside Rajagambhira hill, where a hill fort protected their domain. Excavations have revealed brick buildings, wells and channels that supplied and drained water, as well as remains of the settlement that grew around the rulers’ seat.

The Sambuvarayas rose as local powers under the Cholas and ruled a substantial territory in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Their inscriptions record gifts to temples, including the Ammaiappesvara shrine at Padaividu. In the fourteenth century the Vijayanagara prince Kumara Kampana advanced against the Sambuvaraya principality. Its defeat opened the way for Vijayanagara expansion farther into the Tamil country, while the fort and temple remains preserved traces of the earlier chiefs.